David A. Garvin

David A. Garvin is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He joined the Business School faculty in 1979 and has since then taught courses in leadership, general management, and operations in the MBA and Advanced Management programs, as well as serving as chair of the Elective Curriculum and faculty chair of the School's Teaching and Learning Center. He has also taught in executive education programs and consulted for over fifty organizations around the globe, including Amyris, Biogen Idec, Booz Allen Hamilton, Frito-Lay, Gillette, L. L. Bean, 3M, Mitsubishi, Morgan Stanley, Mueller, Novartis, PPG, Reed Elsevier, Seagate, Stryker, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Professor Garvin's research interests lie in the areas of general management and strategic change. He is especially interested in business and management processes, organizational learning, and the design and leadership of large, complex organizations. He is also deeply interested in case method teaching. He is the author or co-author of ten books, including Rethinking the MBA (selected by Strategy + Business as one of the Best Business Books of 2010), General Management: Processes and Action, Learning in Action, Education for Judgment, and Managing Quality; more than thirty-five articles, including "How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management," "Change Through Persuasion," "What Every CEO Should Know About Creating New Businesses," and "What You Don't Know About Making Decisions;" eight CD-ROMs and videotape series, including A Case Study Teacher in Action, Working Smarter, and Putting the Learning Organization to Work; and over sixty HBS case studies, multimedia exercises, and technical notes. He is a three-time winner of the McKinsey Award, given annually for the best article in Harvard Business Review; a winner of the Beckhard Prize, given annually for the best article on planned change and organizational development in Sloan Management Review; and a winner of the Smith-Weld Prize, given annually for the best article on the University in Harvard Magazine. He has been cited in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Economist, Business Week, Fortune, and Fast Company.

Professor Garvin received an A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1974, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T. in 1979, where he held a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship.

Prior to coming to the Business School, he worked as an economist for both the Federal Trade Commission, studying federal energy policies, and the Sloan Commission on Government and Higher Education, studying the impact of federal regulation on the academic and financial policies of colleges and universities. He has served on the Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Manufacturing Studies Board of the National Research Council, and the Board of Directors of Emerson Hospital.

In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, bicycling, and travel. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts with his wife, Lynn, and his daughters, Diana and Cynthia.

Featured Work

Seeking and giving advice are central to effective leadership and decision making, and they require emotional intelligence, self-awareness, restraint, diplomacy, and patience on both sides. But managers tend to view these competencies as “gifts” that one either has or lacks. The authors argue instead that they are practical skills you can learn and apply to great effect. They draw on a large body of research to identify the most common obstacles to effectively seeking and giving advice—such as thinking one already has the answers, defining the problem poorly, and overstepping boundaries—and offer practical guidelines for getting past them.

The authors define the five stages of advising: (1) finding the right fit; (2) developing a shared understanding; (3) crafting alternatives; (4) converging on a decision; and (5) putting advice into action. Each stage includes suggestions for seekers and for advisers. Example: At stage 4, when it’s time to narrow down the options, a seeker might review discarded or briefly considered ideas, and his adviser might play devil’s advocate—to check for confirmation bias.

Overall, the authors’ guidelines amount to a fundamental shift in approach: a creative, collaborative way of understanding problems and crafting promising paths forward—which often requires an ongoing conversation.

High-performing knowledge workers often question whether managers actually contribute much, especially in a technical environment. Until recently, that was the case at Google, a company filled with self-starters who viewed management as more destructive than beneficial and as a distraction from "real work." But when Google's people analytics team examined the value of managers, applying the same rigorous research methods the company uses in its operations, it proved the skeptics wrong. Mining data from employee surveys, performance reviews, and double-blind interviews, the team verified that managers indeed had a positive impact. It also pinpointed exactly how, identifying the eight key behaviors of great Google managers. In this article, Harvard Business School professor Garvin describes how Google has incorporated the detailed findings from the research into highly specific, concrete guidelines; classes; and feedback reports that help managers hone their essential skills. Because these tools were built from the ground up, using the staff's own input, they've been embraced by Google employees. Managers say that they've found their training to be invaluable, and managers' ratings from direct reports have steadily risen across the company.How Google Proved Management Matters - an interview with David Garvin.

For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now the business world has changed, say the authors of Rethinking the MBA -- Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen -- and MBA programs must change with it. Increasingly, managers and recruiters are questioning conventional business education.

To be competitive, companies must grow innovative new businesses. Corporate entrepreneurship, however, isn't easy. New ventures face innumerable barriers and seldom mesh smoothly with well-established systems, processes, and cultures. Nonetheless, success requires a balance of old and new organizational traits--and unless companies keep those opposing forces in equilibrium, their new businesses will flounder. The authors describe the challenges companies face when they pursue new businesses, as well as the usual problematic responses to those challenges. Such companies, they say, must perform three balancing acts: 1) Develop strategy by trial and error, which includes narrowing potential choices, learning from small samples, using prototypes to test business models, tracking progress through nonfinancial measures, and knowing how and when to pull the plug on a new venture; 2) Find the best combination of old and new operational processes by staffing new ventures with "mature turks," changing veterans' thinking, knowing which capabilities to develop and which to acquire, and having old and new businesses share responsibility for operating decisions; 3) Strike the right balance of integration and autonomy by assigning both corporate and operating sponsors to new ventures, establishing criteria for handoffs to existing divisions, and using creative organizational structures. The authors provide a detailed look at IBM's Emerging Business Opportunity system, which manages all these balancing acts simultaneously.

Most executives think of decision making as a singular event that occurs at a particular point in time. In reality, though, decision making is a process fraught with power plays, politics, personal nuances, and institutional history. Leaders who recognize this make far better decisions than those who persevere in the fantasy that decisions are events they alone control. That said, some decision making processes are far more effective than others. Most often, participants use an advocacy process, possibly the least productive way to get things done. They view decision making as a contest, arguing passionately for their preferred solutions, presenting information selectively, withholding relevant conflicting data so they can make a convincing case, and standing firm against opposition. Much more powerful is an inquiry process, in which people consider a variety of options and work together to discover the best solution. Moving from advocacy to inquiry requires careful attention to three critical factors: fostering constructive, rather than personal, conflict; making sure everyone knows that their viewpoints are given serious consideration even if they are not ultimately accepted; and knowing when to bring deliberations to a close. The authors discuss in detail strategies for moving from an advocacy to an inquiry process, as well as for fostering productive conflict, true consideration, and timely closure. And they offer a framework for assessing the effectiveness of your process while you're still in the middle of it. Decision making is a job that lies at the very heart of leadership and one that requires a genius for balance: the ability to embrace the divergence that may characterize early discussions and to forge the unity needed for effective implementation.

Most managers today understand the value of building a learning organization. Their goal is to leverage knowledge and make it a key corporate asset, yet they remain uncertain about how best to get started. What they lack are guidelines and tools that transform abstract theory—the learning organization as an ideal-into hands-on implementation. For the first time in Learning in Action, David Garvin helps managers make the leap from theory to proven practice.

Garvin argues that at the heart of organizational learning lies a set of processes that can be designed, deployed, and led. He starts by describing the basic steps in every learning process-acquiring, interpreting, and applying knowledge—then examines the critical challenges facing managers at each of these stages and the various ways the challenges can be met. Drawing on decades of scholarship and a wealth of examples from a wide range of fields, Garvin next introduces three modes of learning—intelligence gathering, experience, and experimentation—and shows how each mode is most effectively deployed. These approaches are brought to life in complete, richly detailed case studies of learning in action at organizations such as Xerox, L. L. Bean, the U. S. Army, and GE. The book concludes with a discussion of the leadership role that senior executives must play to make learning a day-to-day reality in their organizations..

By David A. Garvin and Michael A. Roberto, Harvard Business Review, February, 2005

Faced with the need for a massive change, most managers respond predictably. They revamp the organization's strategy, shift around staff, and root out inefficiencies. They then wait patiently for performance to improve—only to be bitterly disappointed because they've failed to prepare employees adequately for the change. In this article, the authors contend that to make change stick, leaders must conduct an effective persuasion campaign—one that begins weeks or months before the turnaround plan is set in concrete. Like a political campaign, a persuasion campaign is largely one of differentiation from the past.

Turnaround leaders must convince people that the organization is truly on its deathbed—or, at the very least, that radical changes are required if the organization is to survive and thrive. (This is a particularly difficult challenge when years of persistent problems have been accompanied by few changes in the status quo.) And they must demonstrate through word and deed that they are the right leaders with the right plan.

Accomplishing all this calls for a four-part communications strategy. Prior to announcing a turnaround plan, leaders need to set the stage for employees' acceptance of it. At the time of delivery, they must present a framework through which employees can interpret information and messages about the plan. As time passes, they must manage the mood so that employees' emotional states support implementation and follow-through. And at critical intervals, they must provide reinforcement to ensure that the desired changes take hold and that there's no backsliding. Using the example of the dramatic turnaround at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the authors elucidate the inner workings of a successful change effort.

Publications

"Business Schools Face Test of Faith." "Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?" As these headlines make clear, business education is at a major crossroads. For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now the business world has changed, say the authors of Rethinking the MBA. and MBA programs must change with it. Increasingly, managers and recruiters are questioning conventional business education. Their concerns? Among other things, MBA programs aren't giving students the heightened cultural awareness and global perspectives they need. Newly minted MBAs lack essential leadership skills. Creative and critical thinking demand far more attention. In this compelling and authoritative new book, the authors document a rising chorus of concerns about business schools gleaned from extensive interviews with deans and executives as well as from a detailed analysis of current curricula and emerging trends in graduate business education; provide case studies showing how leading MBA programs have begun reinventing themselves for the better; and offer concrete ideas for how business schools can surmount the challenges that come with reinvention, including securing faculty with new skills and experimenting with new pedagogies. Rich with examples and thoroughly researched, Rethinking the MBA reveals why and how business schools must define a better pathway for the future.

The article looks at giving and receiving advice as an element of organizational leadership and managerial ability. It suggests that the skills related to these actions, such as self-awareness and diplomacy, are not innate talents but can be learned. It lists problems that research has shown often occur in the process of seeking or giving advice, including being overconfident about one's own perspective, failing to seek advice from those with different perspectives, and not defining the problem at hand in a clear manner. It offers recommendations for both those seeking and giving advice to make the process as effective as possible.

The article presents a case study of a business enterprise with high employee turnover that is considering adopting a personnel management innovation, referred to as People Support, involving a group of managers whose role is to listen to and help resolve employees' work-related problems. It offers perspectives from two business experts who have opposing viewpoints on a family-like corporate culture and on whether the People Support plan is advisable.

High-performing knowledge workers often question whether managers actually contribute much, especially in a technical environment. Until recently, that was the case at Google, a company filled with self-starters who viewed management as more destructive than beneficial and as a distraction from "real work." But when Google's people analytics team examined the value of managers, applying the same rigorous research methods the company uses in its operations, it proved the skeptics wrong. Mining data from employee surveys, performance reviews, and double-blind interviews, the team verified that managers indeed had a positive impact. It also pinpointed exactly how, identifying the eight key behaviors of great Google managers. In this article, I describe how Google has incorporated the detailed findings from the research into highly specific, concrete guidelines; classes; and feedback reports that help managers hone their essential skills. Because these tools were built from the ground up, using the staff's own input, they've been embraced by Google employees. Managers say that they've found their training to be invaluable, and managers' ratings from direct reports have steadily risen across the company.

A great plan for the future isn't so great if you can't execute it properly. Conceiving a project or initiative demands different approaches and skills than acting on it and following through. Here's a guide to removing the roadblocks on the path toward effective implementation.

The paper seeks to examine major challenges facing MBA programs and to argue that they will have to reconsider their value proposition. It aims to explore effective curricular and programmatic responses as opportunities for MBA programs to innovate. The paper also aims to call for collective action across the business school field to effectively address these challenges.

A multiunit enterprise is a geographically dispersed organization built from standard units (stores, restaurants, or branches) that are aggregated into larger geographic groupings (districts, regions, and divisions). Although this organizational structure has become the norm in several industries, it has received little attention from academics and consultants. Garvin and Levesque set out to fill that gap in management thinking with their research. The authors closely studied the office supply company Staples for two years and then collected data from 12 other multiunit enterprises. In this article, they discuss the unique problems that such corporations face, describe how managers tackle those challenges, and offer lessons that will help all types of organizations execute strategy. In a multiunit enterprise, four tiers of management constitute the field organization: store, district, regional, and divisional heads. All these managers are responsible for meeting targets set by corporate headquarters and implementing strategy. To do so, they adhere to five principles of organizational design. First, the field organization's different tiers have overlapping responsibilities; together they create a multilayered net to catch any problems that arise. Second, managers at all levels serve as integrators, coordinating diverse activities and optimizing the efforts of the whole organization rather than its parts. Third, higher-level managers filter data from headquarters to frontline managers, who otherwise might feel overwhelmed by a constant stream of initiatives. Fourth, regional and divisional heads in particular act as translators, defining in concrete terms how the field organization can roll out initiatives. Finally, all managers share responsibility for talent development.

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. An organization with a strong learning culture faces the unpredictable deftly. However, a concrete method for understanding precisely how an institution learns and for identifying specific steps to help it learn better has remained elusive. A new survey instrument from professors Garvin and Edmondson of Harvard Business School and assistant professor Gino of Carnegie Mellon University allows you to ground your efforts in becoming a learning organization. The tool's conceptual foundation is what the authors call the three building blocks of a learning organization. The first, a supportive learning environment, comprises psychological safety, appreciation of differences, openness to new ideas, and time for reflection. The second, concrete learning processes and practices, includes experimentation, information collection and analysis, and education and training. These two complementary elements are fortified by the final building block: leadership that reinforces learning. The survey instrument enables a granular examination of all these particulars, scores each of them, and provides a framework for detailed, comparative analysis. You can make comparisons within and among your institution's functional areas, between your organization and others, and against benchmarks that the authors have derived from their surveys of hundreds of executives in many industries. After discussing how to use their tool, the authors share the insights they acquired as they developed it. Above all, they emphasize the importance of dialogue and diagnosis as you nurture your company and its processes with the aim of becoming a learning organization. The authors' goal—and the purpose of their tool—is to help you paint an honest picture of your firm's learning culture and of the leaders who set its tone.

This note examines the processes of seeking, receiving, and giving advice by drawing on both academic research and the lessons of skilled practitioners. It begins with a discussion of the potential benefits and costs of advice-seeking and advice-giving. The note then defines and distinguishes four related activities: advising, counseling, coaching and mentoring. Next, it describes the primary stages or steps in the advising process; each stage is examined from the perspective of both advice-seekers and advice-givers. The note concludes with recommendations for practice, listing a number of pitfalls to avoid when seeking, receiving, and giving advice as well as several guidelines and best practices.

Describes a senior management team's strategic decision-making process. The division president faces three options for redesigning the process to address several key concerns. The president has extensive quantitative and qualitative data about the process to guide him as he and the senior team attempt to make improvements.

The Gaylord Division of Americhem, a large chemical company, is in the midst of the first use of a new zero-base budgeting system. The general manager of the division leading the process is experiencing disagreement and conflict among the members of the senior management team. This case describes a difficult meeting. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Abridged version of one of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a complete integrated package. Explores five distinct jobs—store manager, district manager, regional vice-president, division senior vice-president, and president of the U.S. Stories business units—and, for each level, describes the key management tasks, planning, decision-making, and leadership processes and critical choices that lead to superior execution and operational performance. Provides background information on Staples' organization and strategy.

Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management attributes, designed to help Google employees become better managers. By November 2012, the program had been in place for several years, and the company could point to statistically significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance. Now executives were wondering: how could Google build on the success of this project, extending it to senior leaders, teams, and other constituencies while striving to create truly amazing managers?

Google's Project Oxygen started with a fundamental question raised by executives in the early 2000s: do managers matter? The topic generated a multi-year research project that ultimately led to a comprehensive program, built around eight key management attributes, designed to help Google employees become better managers. By November 2012, the program had been in place for several years, and the company could point to statistically significant improvements in managerial effectiveness and performance. Now executives were wondering: how could Google build on the success of this project, extending it to senior leaders, teams, and other constituencies while striving to create truly amazing managers?

In late spring 2009, Stroz Friedberg co-presidents Edward Stroz and Eric Friedberg had to set growth targets for 2010. The leading global consulting firm they had built specialized in managing digital risk and uncovering digital evidence and had grown very rapidly. With the firm's CFO, they believed that the firm could grow from $58 million to $72 million, a growth rate of 27% over the preceding year. However, the firm's 11 offices had submitted first draft FY 2010 plans that together added up to firm-wide revenues of only $53 million, a growth rate of negative 10.2%. The preceding years of rapid growth had been successful but challenging, and a thorough review of the firm's culture, systems, structure, and processes in late 2008 had resulted in a significant set of changes to which the organization was still adjusting. Stroz and Friedberg wondered whether to push for continued, aggressive growth.

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.–based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of accelerating digital convergence and decreasing magazine sales. Historically a proponent of evolutionary change, he is considering a radical move: creating a senior management position responsible for e-commerce to coordinate web-based offerings and outreach across the Society's various departments, transition NGS from its many disparate and independent direct mail efforts to a more integrated and strategic e-commerce strategy, and leverage the NGS relationship with its members—currently defined as magazine subscribers, since a subscription comes with Society membership. Putting the final touches on the position and its reporting arrangements has led to significant debate within the organization, and Fahey is torn about how to proceed.

Ctrip is a $437 million Chinese on-line travel services company with a scientific, data driven approach to management. The case explores Ctrip's founding and early growth, its expansion into multiple market segments including hotel reservations, air ticketing, leisure travel, and corporate travel, and the sources of its competitive advantage. The firm's culture, organization and call center operations are described in detail, as are its decision-making and business processes. At the end of the case, executives are considering whether Ctrip should actively pursue either the budget or luxury travel segments, which would mean shifting attention from the company's core customer base of Frequent Independent Travelers.

Bergerac Systems is a small, rapidly growing manufacturer of diagnostic instruments used in veterinary practices. The company introduced the OmniVue chemistry analyzer, which enables veterinarians to run a wide range of blood and blood chemistry tests on their animal patients in the office instead of sending them to outside laboratories. OmniVue is easy to operate and produces highly reliable results using a proprietary cartridge for holding the blood specimen during the analysis. Sales of these single-use cartridges are an important part of the revenue stream for the product line. The firm relies on two outside suppliers for the plastic components of the cartridges. The CEO is concerned about inconsistent delivery from the cartridge suppliers which have resulted in shortages and stock-outs. To address the supply chain problems, the CEO considers acquiring one of the suppliers, GenieTech, while the director of planning proposes building the required capabilities within the company's existing manufacturing facilities. Students must perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a "make vs. buy" decision while considering expected production capacities, market forecasts, and the company's overall sourcing strategy.

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows, managers must decide how to scale the Vision Community process so that it retains its spirit of employee involvement and engagement while encompassing a larger, more geographically dispersed group of participants.

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows, managers must decide how to scale the Vision Community process so that it retains its spirit of employee involvement and engagement while encompassing a larger, more geographically dispersed group of participants.

MindTree is a mid-sized Indian IT services company known for its knowledge management practices, its collaborative communities, and its strong culture and values. The CEO has set a goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2014; to reach that goal, employees must create several new businesses. The head of knowledge management must decide how his function should change in order to become more supportive of innovation and new business development.

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of accelerating digital convergence and decreasing magazine sales. Historically a proponent of evolutionary change, he is considering a radical move: creating a senior management position responsible for e-commerce to coordinate web-based offerings and outreach across the Society's various departments, transition NGS from its many disparate and independent direct mail efforts to a more integrated and strategic e-commerce strategy, and leverage the NGS relationship with its members-currently defined as magazine subscribers, since a subscription comes with Society membership. Putting the final touches on the position and its reporting arrangements has led to significant debate within the organization, and Fahey is torn about how to proceed.

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows, managers must decide how to scale the Vision Community process so that it retains its spirit of employee involvement and engagement while encompassing a larger, more geographically dispersed group of participants.

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows, managers must decide how to scale the Vision Community process so that it retains its spirit of employee involvement and engagement while encompassing a larger, more geographically dispersed group of participants.

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,0000 developers who compete to write software modules for its over 40 clients Provides details of a unique innovation platform where complex software is developed through ongoing online competitions. By outlining the company's evolution, the challenges of building a community and refining a web-based competition platform are illustrated. Experiences and perspectives from TopCoder community members and clients help show what it means to work from within or in cooperation with an online community. In the case, the use of distributed innovation and its potential merits as a corporate problem solving mechanism is discussed. Issues related to TopCoder's scalability, profitability and growth are also explored.

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who compete to write software modules for its over 40 clients. Provides details of a unique inovation platform where complex software is developed through ongoing online competitions. By outlining the company's evolution, the challenges of building a community and refining a web-based competition platform are illustrated. Experiences and perspectives from TopCoder community members and clients help show what it means to work from within or In cooperation with an online community. In the case, the use of distributed innovation and its potential merits as a corporate problem solving mechanism is discussed. issues related to TopCoder's scalability, profitability and growth are also explored.

MindTree is a mid-sized Indian IT services company known for its knowledge management practices, its collborative communities, and its strong culture and values. The CEO has a set a goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2014; to reach that goal, employees must create several new businesses. The head of knowledge management must decide hos his function should change in order to become more supportive of innovation and new business development.

MindTree is a mid-sized Indian IT services company known for its knowledge management practices, its collaborative communities, and its strong culture and values. The CEO has set a goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2014; to reach that goal, employees must create several new businesses. The head of knowledge management must decide how his function should change in order to become more supportive of innovation and new business development.

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of accelerating digital convergence and decreasing magazine sales. Historically a proponent of evolutionary change, he is considering a radical move: creating a senior management position responsible for e-commerce to coordinate web-based offerings and outreach across the Society's various departments, transition NGS from its many disparate and independent direct mail efforts to a more integrated and strategic e-commerce strategy, and leverage the NGS relationship with its members—currently defined as magazine subscribers, since a subscription comes with Society membership. Putting the final touches on the position and its reporting arrangements has led to significant debate within the organization, and Fahey is torn about how to proceed.

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of accelerating digital convergence and decreasing magazine sales. Historically a proponent of evolutionary change, he is considering a radical move: creating a senior management position responsible for e-commerce to coordinate web-based offerings and outreach across the Society's various departments, transition NGS from its many disparate and independent direct mail efforts to a more integrated and strategic e-commerce strategy, and leverage the NGS relationship with its members—currently defined as magazine subscribers, since a subscription comes with Society membership. Putting the final touches on the position and its reporting arrangements has led to significant debate within the organization, and Fahey is torn about how to proceed.

In late spring 2009, Stroz Friedberg co-presidents Edward Stroz and Eric Friedberg had to set growth targets for 2010. The leading global consulting firm they had built specialized in managing digital risk and uncovering digital evidence and had grown very rapidly. With the firm's CFO, they believed that the firm could grow from $58 million to $72 million, a growth rate of 27% over the preceding year. However, the firm's 11 offices had submitted first draft FY 2010 plans that together added up to firm-wide revenues of only $53 million, a growth rate of negative 10.2%. The preceding years of rapid growth had been successful but challenging, and a thorough review of the firm's culture, systems, structure, and processes in late 2008 had resulted in a significant set of changes to which the organization was still adjusting. Stroz and Friedberg wondered whether to push for continued, aggressive growth.

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who compete to write software modules for its over 40 clients. Provides details of a unique innovation platform where complex software is developed through ongoing online competitions. By outlining the company's evolution, the challenges of building a community and refining a web-based competition platform are illustrated. Experiences and perspectives from TopCoder community members and clients help show what it means to work from within or in cooperation with an online community. In the case, the use of distributed innovation and its potential merits as a corporate problem solving mechanism is discussed. Issues related to TopCoder's scalability, profitability, and growth are also explored.

In the spring of 2008, INSEAD offered a one-year MBA, PhD, executive MBA, and non-degree management education programs to nearly 900 MBA students, 64 PhD candidates, and over 8,500 executive education students. With two campuses, one in Europe and one in Asia, INSEAD had been a pioneer in setting up a secondary campus as a way to push the internationalization of its faculty and curriculum. The case explores INSEAD's approach to business education in a global context and how it functions with a dual-campus setting.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) was founded in 1970 on the notion that leadership was not innate but could be learned. CCL evolved into one of the world's top leadership development organizations, involved in both research and program design and delivery. This case explores CCL's approach to leadership and management education for executives and presents some of the challenges the CCL faces as many different types of leadership development providers continue to emerge.

On January 7, 2002, Paul Levy became CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He took over a troubled organization, in serious financial difficulty. This multimedia case describes the situation Levy inherited, his negotiations prior to taking the job, and his first six months as CEO. Includes extensive video interviews with Levy, conducted every two to four weeks during his first six months; a detailed timeline and calendar of events; excerpts from Levy's daily schedule, e-mail correspondence, internal reports, and memoranda; and selected Boston Herald newspaper articles. This case presents students with an unvarnished view of the gritty details of day-to-day general management.

In 2008 the Boston-based Harvard Business School would turn 100. As the centennial year began, the HBS community and leadership were reflecting on how the School might fulfill its mission to "develop business leaders who make a difference in the world" in the next century. This case focuses on the school's commitment to general management education and its implementation in an increasingly globalized business world.

In the fall of 2006, the Yale School of Management launched a new core curriculum in its MBA program. The new curriculum eliminated traditional discipline-based courses such as finance and marketing and replaced them with courses that sought to integrate teaching and learning across functions and from the perspective of the constituents with whom leaders typically interacted, such as customers, competitors, and investors. This case examines the implementation of the new curriculum and how it transformed business education at the Yale School of Management.

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business offered a discipline-based, flexible MBA program to full time, evening, weekend, and executive MBA students. At a time when other MBA programs were introducing significant changes to their curricula, Chicago felt its traditional approach worked well, and it was not contemplating significant change. This case describes Chicago's approach to MBA education and the challenges it faced.

In fall 2007, Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) adopted a new curriculum that it heralded as a "revolutionary change in management education." The new approach aimed at increasing the level and quality of student academic engagement. This case describes the concept and described its implementation and early challenges.

One of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a complete integrated package. Explores five distinct jobs--store manager, district manager, regional vice-president, division senior vice-president, and president of the U.S. Stories business units--and, for each level, describes the key management tasks, planning, decision-making, and leadership processes and critical choices that lead to superior execution and operational performance. Provides background information on Staples' organization and strategy.

In March 2005, CEO Michael Eskew has asked the Corporate Strategy Group to recommend changes to the strategic process to ensure it allows United Parcel Service (UPS) to continue to transform itself over the next several years. Describes the evolution of UPS's strategic process, with special attention on the company's use of scenario planning techniques, as well as other critical elements of the process: the development of the company charter, strategic planning, strategic decision making, and strategy implementation. Also discusses the roles of the various players in the process, focusing especially on the CEO and corporate strategy staff.

Describes the evolution of General Motors' strategy, organizational structure, and management processes from its founding to the present day. Focuses on the role of GM's management committee--the senior-decision-making body at the company, now called the Automotive Strategy Board (ASB)--and how it operates under Rick Wagoner, its current CEO. In October 2004, Wagoner and the ASB are wrestling with recent changes in GM's planning and budgeting processes and how they will affect the balance between global and local needs.

By June 2003, IBM had made significant progress in changing the way it managed new, emerging businesses. Describes the development of a separate management program at IBM designed to identify, fund, and shepherd new businesses through growth. Traces the history of the program, its evolution, and the current challenges senior management faces in scaling up the program.

On January 7, 2002, Paul Levy became CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a troubled organization, in serious financial difficulty. This case describes the situation Levy inherited, his negotiations prior to taking the job, and his first six months as CEO.

Presents an introduction and overview of corporate venturing. Describes the need for companies to create new businesses, the stages in the process, predictable problems and challenges, the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches such as internal venture divisions and corporate venture capital funds, and guidelines for successful practice.

Describes the transition from functional to general management. Describes the distinctive challenges of the general manager's job as well as how best to manage the short-term results of assuming a position as general manager.

In June 1995, Barbara Schetter, VP and general manager of R.R. Donnelley's Digital Division, is struggling to gain acceptance from other groups and divisions at the printing giant. The Digital Division employs radically new technology--digital printing presses and transactions management systems--to deliver short-run, customized printing. But it is based on a completely different business model than Donnelley's traditional businesses and is finding it difficult to overcome informal resistance.

Provides questionnaires so students can compare their experiences with different decison-making processes. Students read "Growing Pains," a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study, and then work in teams to come up with recommendations using a consensus approach to decison making. The next day using Decision-Making Exercise (B) and (C) and "Case of the Unhealthy Hospital," another HBR case study, and working in the same teams, use either a dialectical inquiry or devil's advocacy approach to decision making.

Provides questionnaires so students can compare their experiences with different decison-making processes. Students read "Growing Pains," a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study, and then work in teams to come up with recommendations using a consensus approach to decison making. The next day they use Decision-Making Exercise (B) and (C) and "Case of the Unhealthy Hospital," another HBR case study and, working in the same teams, use either a dialectical inquiry or devil's advocacy approach to decision making.

Provides questionnaires so students can compare their experiences with different decison-making processes. Students read "Growing Pains," a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study, and then work in teams to come up with recommendations using a consensus approach to decison making. The next day they use Decision-Making Exercise (B) and (C) and "Case of the Unhealthy Hospital," another HBR case study and, working in the same teams, use either a dialectical inquiry or devil's advocacy approach to decision making.

Describes a senior management team's strategic decision-making process. The division president faces three options for redesigning the process to address several key concerns. The president has extensive quantitative and qualitative data about the process to guide him as he and the senior team attempt to make improvements.

Provides an overview of knowledge management, including descriptions of knowledge management strategies, processes, organization, infrastructure, systems, and challenges. Describes the approaches at two leading consulting firms, Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, that have been pioneers in knowledge management strategies.

The Gaylord Division of Americhem, a large chemical company, is in the midst of the first use of a new zero-base budgeting system. The general manager of the division leading the process is experiencing disagreement and conflict among the members of the senior management team. This case describes a difficult meeting. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Linda Doyle, president and CEO of Harvard Business School Publishing Corp., has succeeded in turning around the organization after several difficult years. She has launched several strategic and organizational initiatives, and has instilled a new philosophy and vision. Now, however, there are disagreements over the use of the centralized marketing organization and the degree of autonomy still held by the product groups.

Describes a comprehensive manufacturing strategy designed to reduce substantially the cycle time of orders (i.e. the time between the placement of an order by a customer and its delivery to the customer). To launch the strategy Digital has adopted manufacturing resource planning (MRP II). The case allows students to assess the pros and cons of the strategy which requires rapid information flows and tight manufacturing discipline, the usefulness of MRP II which integrates manufacturing with overall business plans, and the implementation process to date.

An entrepreneurial division within Corning, Serengeti Eyewear, has grown rapidly in its brief 10-year history. Now it must decide whether to launch a new line of sunglasses and take on the industry leader. The company has prospered by developing and cultivating relationships with suppliers, customers, employees, and retailers. Its leader, Zaki Mystafa, has created a remarkable, flexible, and responsive organization. The case describes Mystafas's highly informal managerial style, and his skill at managing "up" to his superiors at Corning.

SAP America has grown at an explosive rate. This case describes the company's strategy, organization, and culture, with special attention to its approach to partnering and its sales and consulting process, which have been instrumental in allowing growth to proceed. Now in 1996, the company has reorganized in response to increased competition, new competitive demands, and the need to shift from an entrepreneurial to a more professional approach to management.

Watermill Ventures acquires and turns around an underperforming business. The case describes the criteria the company uses to identify acquisition candidates, its screening and selection process, and the way it introduces strategic thinking at the business it acquires. Steve Karol, Watermill's founder, is concerned because the company has only acquired two companies in its three years of operation. He is considering a number of actions, including establishing a Web site to broaden the base of contact.

Craig Weatherup, the president and CEO of Pepsi Cola, leads a change process that completely transforms his company. It includes a new vision, operating philosophy, strategy, and organizational structure. He also introduces process improvement techniques and builds new performance metrics around these processes and the newly desired behaviors.

Harvey Golub, CEO American Express, initiated and led a large-scale change process. The case describes the organization he inherited, two successive waves of reengineering, his "principles-driven" approach to decision making, and his goal of converting American Express from a diversified financial supermarket to one unified operating company.

Charlie LeMantia, the president and CEO of Arthur D. Little (ADL), a leading consulting firm, is trying to decide whether the firm has a complete and effective corporate strategy. The case traces ADL's history, its rise to prominence and subsequent decline, and LeMantia's efforts to turn the organization around. Special attention is devoted to his introduction of process thinking and process management, and their impact on the way the company is managed.

Raises three issues: the different requirements for competing in specialty and commodity chemicals; the steps a new idea follows in moving from research, applied research, and development to manufacturing and marketing; and the role of a commercial development organization in facilitating new product development. Students must evaluate the role of the commercial development group, especially its goals, management criteria for accepting new projects, and the criteria for passing on projects to established divisions.

Louis Friedman, the president and CEO of Peterson Industries, must make decisions about two engineering projects and the level at which they should be funded. In the process, he must manage the overall resource allocation process and the company. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Time Life has historically been a continuity book publisher, selling 20-volume book series via direct mail. Now, however, music and video/TV divisions have been added, and the CEO is trying to craft a strategy that will align the divisions so they can produce multimedia products. There is also an immediate decision facing the CEO about the advertising for a new book and TV series, and questions for the division managers about how to shape and improve their businesses' creative processes.

Should follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (A). The plant manager has been promoted and students must decide what kind of individual--background, training, personal style, etc.--they would like to replace him.

Should follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B1). A new plant manager has been hired; the case describes her experience, management philosophy, goals in the plant, and handling of a production problem.

To follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B2). The division has just received a request for dramatically increased production. If it complies with the request, it will have to expedite production, override the MRP II system and the planned schedule. Should it accept the order? The case forces students to consider the tensions between an uncertain market and environment and disciplined manufacturing plans.

Describes the history, theory, and practice of high-commitment work systems. The history reviews classical approaches (i.e. Frederick Taylor), the human relations movement, the human resources approach, quality of work life, and empowerment. The theory examines the underlying principles of design. The practice section reviews the experiences to date with these systems, including such innovations as gainsharing and such problems as defining the role of supervisor.

PPG has built a state-of-the-art glass plant in Berea, Kentucky. The plant is pursuing the goal of a "self-directed workforce." The case describes the progress to date and the unresolved issues faced by management. These include questions about shift rotation, promotion opportunities, employee evaluation and supervision, the role of employees in policy setting, and whether or not to introduce a system of peer review. Explores the process of creating a self-directed workforce, the underlying theoretical model, and the difficulties and tensions inherent in that approach.

Describes the evolution of the Boeing 767 from the conception of the project to the start of manufacturing. Shows how the company manages an enormously complex and risky project and introduces students to a variety of estimating and management tools. The decision issue involves the shift from three-person to two-person cockpits and whether rework should be done in-line (without removing planes from the flow of production) or off-line (after initial assembly has been completed).

In the (A) case, Copeland had to choose between focusing its Sidney plant by product line or by manufacturing process. Now that it has made that decision, a plant layout must be selected from two alternatives.

In the preceding case, Copeland had to choose between two alternative plant layouts for organizing its Sidney plant. Now it must get work force approval for a change in "bumping" rules before proceeding with the change. Management must decide how to proceed--to continue with the reorganization, delay the moving of equipment and personnel, or drop the project completely.

Describes the three distinct approaches to quality management represented by W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Philip B. Crosby. Designed to introduce students to the elements of statistical quality control, structured approaches to quality improvement, and zero defects programs and to show them that there is more than one way to improve quality.

Describes the evolution of a company's manufacturing strategy over an eight-year period. Copeland had pursued a strategy of building freestanding focused plants devoted to single processes or product lines, and then moving products from the home plant at Sidney, Ohio to the new facility. Sidney is now left with a jumble of unrelated products and processes, and management must decide whether it should be reorganized by product line or manufacturing processes. HBR reprint number 85117 "Competing Through Manufacturing," January-February 1985, by S.C. Wheelwright and R.H. Hayes may be taught with these cases.

GE is considering introducing a "just-in-time" production system to reduce inventory in its thermocouple manufacturing area. The case presents students with a description of the present inventory management system, the production process, and the perspectives of different individuals in the plant. The issue is how GE should proceed with introducing this system.

Describes Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), a production technique designed to couple business and financial plans with manufacturing plans. It is an important tool for aligning manufacturing with a company's overall strategy and goals. Describes MRPII, distinguishing it from its predecessor, Material Requirements Planning (MRP); discusses the technique's basic elements; and reports survey results that show the factors distinguishing the most successful adopters of the technique.

Introduces students to the products, shows the company's focused factories, introduces the principal managers, and describes the process the company went through in executing a major change in manufacturing strategy and philosophy. Can be used independently to introduce students to machinery and assembly operations by taking them on a series of "factory tours."

Describes the decision faced by a rapidly growing firm in the merchandise security systems business on whether it should integrate backward into the injection molding of plastic parts. Financial analysis, comparative economics, and manufacturing strategy in an industry with rapid technological change are all important elements in the analysis.

Considers whether Steinway should reintroduce a long-discontinued product line to meet competition from the Japanese. Raises the issue of just how quality is defined in this market. Looks closely at a production process relying on craft skills. Students have the opportunity to consider issues of quality.

Describes what has happened since the introduction of just-in-time production techniques were developed to reduce inventory. Reviews the progress to date in such areas as process rationalization; set-up reduction; quality improvement and leveling the scheduling; and discusses options for the future. The aim of the case is to show students the details of implementing a new production method.

David A. Garvin is studying how companies pursue improvement and change through efforts to stimulate organizational learning. He has found the following activities to be common in learning organizations: intelligence gathering; experimentation; learning from experience; learning from the best practice of others; systematic problem solving; and transferring knowledge internally. The most successful organizations have developed a wide range of mechanisms and tools to support these activities, including after-action reviews, demonstration projects, simulations, lessons learned units, and incentive systems that encourage risk-taking, as well as innovative approaches to measuring learning.

Garvin reported the findings of his research in a Harvard Business School Press book Learning in Action, a Harvard Business Review article 'Building a Learning Organization,' and two HBS Video Series Putting the Learning Organization to Work and Working Smarter. Both the publications and videos feature a wide range of case studies and examples drawn from organizations as diverse as Allegheny Ludlum Steel, GE, L. L. Bean, the U. S. Army, Timken, and Xerox. Most recently, he has worked with Amy Edmondson and Francesca Gino to develop an assessment tool for evaluating learning organizations. That tool, which permits individuals to assess their teams, departments, and organizations on their learning climates, learning processes, and learning leadership behaviors, is described in a March 2008 Harvard Business Review article entitled "Is Yours a Learning Organization?"

David A. Garvin is examining the nature and use of managerial and organizational processes—the means by which work is accomplished—including strategic processes that chart corporate direction, resource allocation processes that distribute funds, decision-making processes that resolve conflicts and select among alternatives, managerial processes that negotiate roles and responsibilities and oversee and orchestrate work, and change processes that fundamentally revamp and improve organizational performance. The general manager's role is to set these processes in motion, monitor them continuously, and shape and direct them as they unfold over time. Over a dozen new cases have been derived from this research and serve as the basis for the second-year MBA elective General Management: Processes and Action, an Advanced Management Program course by the same name, and a casebook of the same title published by Irwin/McGraw-Hill in 2002. Included in these materials is a multimedia case, 'Paul Levy: Taking Charge of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,' that examines the taking charge process of a new chief executive by drawing on real-time video interviews, emails, and internal memoranda and reports.

To learn more about the leadership of process-oriented organizations, Garvin led a roundtable discussion with CEOs who have pioneered these approaches that has been published in Harvard Business Review as 'Leveraging Processes for Strategic Advantage.' He has also written a conceptual paper, 'The Processes of Organization and Management,' published in Sloan Management Review, that summarized the literature in the field, provided an organizing framework, and developed implications for managers, as well as co-authoring an article on decision-making processes, published in Harvard Business Review as 'What You Don't Know About Decision Making.'

Currently, he is studying innovation and decision making processes in large, complex, multibillion dollar corporations. He is particularly interested in the challenges that these organizations face in creating and growing new businesses, which led to the articles 'What Every CEO Should Know About Creating New Businesses' and 'Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Entrepreneurship," and in the role that executive committees and senior management teams play in coordinating, integrating, and overseeing diverse activities. He is also studying the multiple types and levels of general managers (e.g. store managers, district managers, regional managers, and division presidents at large retailers) to understand how their responsibilities and day-to-day tasks differ. That research, conducted with Lynne Levesque, has resulted in a series of cases on the multiple levels of management at Staples as well as an article, "The Multiunit Enterprise," that appeared in the June 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review.

David Garvin, together with Srikant Datar and Patrick Cullen, is examining the future of MBA education and the evolving role of business schools. The research has several components: interviews with business school deans and business executives to identify the challenges and opportunities facing MBA programs today; an analysis of the statistics on MBA applications, enrollments, staffing, and economics to identify industry trends; a detailed examination of first-year curricula and course content at eleven major business schools to assess similarities and differences across programs; a synthesis and review of the published critiques of business education; and six case studies on leading business programs and their recent innovations, including the Center for Creative Leadership, Chicago, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Stanford, and Yale. This research served as the basis for the School's 2008 Centennial Colloquium on the Future of MBA Education, as well as a book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads, published by Harvard Business Press in 2010.

Teaching

General Management: Processes and Action (GMPA) focuses on implementation and the way that general managers get things done. Typically, they work through processes—sequences of tasks and activities that unfold over time, like strategic planning, business development, and budgeting—to move their organizations forward and achieve results. Skill at influencing the design, direction, and functioning of processes is therefore essential to effective general management, and the aim of GMPA is to develop in students a deeper understanding of these activities and their links to performance. It does so by describing a number of critical organizational and managerial processes, outlining their basic elements and operating characteristics, and exploring how they are best influenced and led. Throughout, the focus is on high-level processes that are of interest to general managers; for this reason, case protagonists are typically division presidents or higher.

The Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP) helps drive corporate performance by honing individual capabilities to the highest level of performance. The result is a personal transformation with profound organizational implications. Participants return to their sponsoring organizations with the tools and knowledge to make the toughest decisions, skillfully and confidently. They also bring a greater understanding of global business and the constantly expanding responsibilities of executive leadership. Most important, they return with the confidence and determination to act on that understanding in innovative ways that will further enhance the performance of their organizations.

David A. Garvin works with the highest level of executive to examine the nature and use of managerial and organizational processes - the means by which work is accomplished - including strategic processes that chart corporate direction, resource allocation processes that distribute funds, decision-making processes that resolve conflicts and select among alternatives, managerial processes that negotiate roles and responsibilites and oversee and orchestrate work, and change processes that fundamentally revamp and improve organizational performance. Cases exploring the general manager's role in setting these processes in motion, monitoring them continuously, and shaping and directing them as they unfold over time serve as the basis for this Advanced Management Program course.